4th Edition has been out for just over a year now, and I think that at this point we as gamers should take a step back and really take a good, long look at the system. Naturally there were a slew of reviews when the core rulebooks first hit shelves, but those were based on beta-tests and hurried week-long campaigns designed with the specific purpose in mind of testing out the system, not to get together with your friends and having a good time. Now I’m not saying that any of those reviewers were being poor journalists; what I am saying, though, is that things come up during a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly game which may not occur during those tests—those goofy little moments when you decide to do something completely stupid which the DM and the rules never account for.
On a broader level we, as gamers (and more specifically me as a reviewer), have had the time and the distance required to really get a good handle on the game. So it may do us well to think about this as more of a reflection than a straight review. And my reflection? Well, to be honest, I’m not quite sure how to feel about 4th.
I’ve played just about every version of D&D with the exception of Chainmail and the very first edition, and while there are definite snags with each rule set and revision, I’ve enjoyed playing the game immensely. Like most I cut my teeth on 2nd Edition AD&D, and I tend to still like it the best mainly because of my familiarity with it. When 3rd Edition came out, my group went kicking and screaming into the change, finally adopting it first as a novelty, and later because we found we enjoyed the system. 3.5 was a definite improvement, although rather galling to us poor college students, and we shifted to that version much more readily with occasional regressions back to 2ND Edition. However, Wizards of the Coast’s dropping of 3.5 for 4th was like a slap to the face. I mean we literally began really buying the 3.5 books a few months before the announcement was made. As a group we swore we would never play it, but—just like before—curiosity won out.
Many of the reviews of 4th mentioned the edition’s friendliness to newcomers. Wired Magazine’s review focused almost exclusively on that (http://www.wired.com/underwire/2008/06/dungeons-dragon/), and Massawyrm over at Ain’t it Cool describes the rules as “elegantly [emphasis his] simple” (http://www.aintitcool.com/node/35776). And I don’t necessarily disagree with them. 4th Edition feels like a logical extension of the impetus behind the whole creation of 3rd Edition and the D20 system in general, which was to streamline the game to make it more accessible for new players. Gone were the often arbitrary rules based on addition, subtraction, and percentages which often didn’t make any kind of intuitive sense and had to be memorized (i.e. you had to roll high in order to successfully attack someone, but you had to roll low to make a skill check). Now all you had to do was add, and the higher the roll the better. I rather liked that change even though I did memorize which rolls I needed to roll high on and which ones I needed to roll low. As Massawyrm points out in his review, making something simple doesn’t make it puerile or stupid.
The funny thing, though, is that I initially found 4th Edition to be a bit unwieldy, especially when I sat down to create my first character. This may be due to my being more familiar with 2nd, 3rd, and 3.5, but I never felt comfortable with the system until a few weeks ago at Origins. And I have to say it was a lot of fun. I lead my comrades to victory as my Dragonborn Warlord Arjhan, zipped around dungeons and towns peppering arrows into vile fiends as an Elven Ranger, and supported a group with a pre-rendered Artificer. I enjoyed the tactical thinking involved in moving my character around the map and using my abilities to avoid danger, and I enjoyed feeling like I played an important role in the group because I was making a real contribution.
That last point, I think, is the real strength of 4th Edition: every character has a specific role and specific abilities they add to the group. It’s built right into the system. A wizard will always have a spell to cast, a bard can fight and inspire at the same time, and a ranger can be more than just a watered-down fighter with a higher experience chart. Leveling up also takes on greater importance because your character always gains something new and cool, not just greater hit points.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure that these strong points are enough to offset some real concerns I have about the game, mainly that it is far too oriented toward combat, and that there seems to be a real lack of plasticity in the overall system. In essence, I really feel like Dungeons and Dragons is trying so hard to appeal to the World of Warcraft crowd that it’s forsaking what has always made it so unique and appealing to gamers—its emphasis on imagination and a encouragement for creative thinking. I just don’t see as much of that with the new edition.
Now, I’d be remiss in pointing out that my view of D&D isn’t shared by all. Those of you who listen to the podcast know that fellow writer/editor Neal Stidham and I had a friendly disagreement on the merits of the D&D system. During our conversation I basically laid out the same argument I am here: that D&D, although certainly bloated with rules in every previous edition, did allow for imaginative use of those rules—depending, of course, on what the DM allowed you to get away with. Neal pointed out other games, such as Exalted, which more overtly encourages playing with style and flair and thinking outside the box. While I still hold to my point of view, I understand his point better now, and I definitely see this happening with 4th Edition.
And I’m not the only one. The reviewer over at Flames Rising.com talks about the incredible level of metagaming going on with this new edition which actively seems to work against the sense of immersion which makes D&D so great for so many people. He also sees the emphasis on optimizing as leading to an even quicker bloating of the rules with later sourcebooks (http://www.flamesrising.com/dnd-4th-edition-review/). This, of course, can be countered by a good GM, but the fact that the GM has to counter it at all illustrates that this is a basic flaw in the game’s design.
What I find even more troubling, though, is the emphasis on combat. Now, I love combat in a good D&D game as much as the next person, but the campaigns I’ve enjoyed the most are a mix of politics, role-playing, and combat. What makes D&D and other paper and dice roleplaying games unique is that you’re actively engaged in telling a story. You and your friends are creating an epic ever session. No other type of game or storytelling experience is quite like it, and the thought of losing the thrill of creating a living, breathing character in a tale of adventure, heroism, and even heartbreak is imminently saddening to me. You don’t get that when you play an online RPG and I think it’s something worth preserving.
I see this most with the magic-using characters, especially the cleric. The cleric is one of my favorite classes to play because of its versatility. It’s an able fighter who can wear heavy armor and can cast some incredibly powerful spells, but in 4th Edition it’s been reduced to a healing dispensary. Some great spells like “Create Food and Water” or “Stone Shape” are missing from the cleric’s profile. I know some of the utility spells for both cleric, wizard, and bard have now been moved to the status of rituals, but 1) I dislike the fact that each ritual apparently takes ten minutes to perform, and 2) I find it very telling that the “Ritual” section is at the very end of the book, indicating to me that Wizard’s doesn’t think that they are that important or useful. I dislike this because some of my favorite moments from playing come from using spells or skills in new, unexpected ways, and I don’t see many chances for that in 4th Edition.
Right now my gaming group from Kentucky is debating whether or not to switch back to 2nd Edition. For all my complaining about 4th, I do have fun playing it, as do my friends, but we’re missing the role-playing parts. I know that we could work harder to insert more role-playing into the campaign, but it’s hard because it seems like the system actively discourages it. We haven’t made a decision yet, but I have the feeling that we will make the change.
I’m not quitting 4th Edition, though. My local comic shop, Indiana Sportscards, is running a bi-monthly game which I’m going to join in starting July 16th. I’m looking forward to this because I want to play more, and I want to see how the game plays with a different group. With any luck I’ll have a follow-up article to this one because of it.
So, until then, game well.
